Plattekill Conditions (2015 - 2016)

Today was impressive. I will be back tomorrow. Great to see some true dedication to us skiers, even this late in the season.

Harvey wrote

Marcski...tomorrow?  I'll be dragging my sorry ass in in the am.  Anything bumped?

Bumped as in moguls....? Not much. Bumps as in whales?  Face has a bunch, both upper and lower. Looking forward to making turns with you again....I should be there early tomorrow as well.  

Today was good. Tomorrow should be awesome after the hard stuff softens up a bit. Spent most of day lapping the face skiing on fresh man made snow at the end of February. Platty is still blowing which will definantly enrich the corn harvest this season. Enjoy Sunday,wish I were there.

Really fun day at Plattekill yesterday.  I was surprised at the amount of cover given the weather over the past few weeks.

I had a few lift rides with Laz and wanted to share some of what he said.

I told Laz that I've gotten a lot of email this season asking if Plattekill was going to be ok.  I asked him some pretty pointed stuff.

The goal is alway to match what he calls his "five year average high."  Take the best 5 seasons of all time (since 1994) and average them, that's the goal, for visits and sales.

He said that this year will come in around half that number. He said this is not the worst season ever for Plattekill. That was 1996. But this year will be number 2 on the all time bad list.

He realized in 96 that bad season had to be part of the plan. It's actually part of the budget, that one in five seasons will be terrible.  Every year they take whatever money they have left and allocate a certain percentage for the next terrible year, and they don't touch it.  The rest is spent on improvements.

After repairs and maintenance, his goal is always to buy and install more pipe. "Even if I can only install 300 feet of pipe per season, over time it adds up." Next on his list will be to install permanent plumbing on Buckle Up to improve access to Block.

The big thing is that the mountain has almost no debt.  It's not hard to tell he's extremely proud of it.

GMs share a lot with me, some for public consumption, some not.  I asked him... "put it out there or just between you and me?"

He said go. So there it is.

Harv, I love that you where able to ask him these hard ball questions..He seems like a hell of stand up guy..I hope next year brings him a ton of cold and snow...

interesting that 96 was his worse year..looks like the region had avg to above avg snow...

JasonWx wrote

Harv, I love that you where able to ask him these hard ball questions..He seems like a hell of stand up guy..I hope next year brings him a ton of cold and snow...

interesting that 96 was his worse year..looks like the region had avg to above avg snow...

Maybe he got the year confused?  Seems unlikely but you never know.

Have you met Laz, Jason? I think you would like him.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  Plattekill Mountain
607-326-3500
info@plattekill.com
 
The calendar says it’s still Winter, so does Plattekill Mountain
 
With Spring right around the corner, the Spring Equinox falls on March 20th, many people are looking for flowers to bloom and are excited for the warmer temperatures.  But not the folks at Plattekill Mountain.  Hews of brown and green surround the mountain and the trails at Plattekill stick out like a neon sign promoting Winter, bright white carved throughout the mountainscape.  
 
The snowguns at Plattekill are still creating a haze of Winter only on the mountain, which those Spring seekers are more than happy about.  However, it looks as if Mother Nature has decided that she’s not completely done with Winter either.  With a major snowstorm in the forecast the first week in March, Plattekill still has a lot in store for the remainder of the Winter season.
 
Winterfest, being held on Saturday, March 5th, has become a well-known fundraiser for the well-trained volunteers of the Plattekill Ski Patrol.  

So, on Saturday, after a day of skiing, snowboarding or snowtubing, Plattekill will be serving up a chicken dinner prepared by the 2016 winner of the James Beard Award (like an Oscar in the restaurant world), Brooks BBQ, at 5:00pm, while there is a live performance by the band Esquela, a raffle for great prizes and wrapping it all up with the annual Torchlight Parade, a glow of serpentining red flares being carried by skiers cascading down the mountain, at 8:00pm.  This is an event suited for everyone, from the very young to the young at heart and is hoping to attract the local community as well as people visiting the area.

All in all, Winter in the East has been anything but normal during the 2015-16 season, but taking the brutally warm highs and the bitterly cold lows in stride, Plattekill Mountain is putting on a pretty awesome show.

Harvey wrote

Have you met Laz, Jason? I think you would like him.

Yes , just a quick introduction..

Looks like they were blowing last night.

Yes they were. This may be the last reasonable period of cold for This season. Looks like no more winter until maybe November. Hoping for a hard winter next year.

Nice. They have done an amazing job making snow in this awful year. I am very excited for this weekend....ski patrol bbq is alwaya fun and Brooks is yummy.

And the webcams looks great this morning. Nothing like the Platty Blue sky.

Still blowing!  Today was Plunge...:



...and Giant Slalom:



Rumor is Northface gets the love tonight.

The fruit of their labor from Saturday night/Sunday morning:



(Sorry for the poor pic quality. Somone texted me the photo).

Wanted to go Saturday for St Plattys day. Web cams not looking to good. Is there enough snow to move around?  Should I bring my bike?  Really wanted one more day there.

I'll be there this weekend.  It should be pretty fun...  Warm temps, soft snow, band on the deck, corned beef and cabbage and cold beer!  

There is enough snow for this weekend.  If not, the grass will be wet enough to glide over! ;).  

Great I'm in and I'll buy ya a beer!
Left rock skis elsewhere so I'll skip the
grass fun. Hopefully it'll be big turnout for
probably the last weekend.

Looks like a change in plans for me, Platty is closed tomorrow.  Maybe I'll take a shot at Sunday on the return trip.

In any case have a great weekend guys. Post a few pics.

Awesome pic from Bart's crew who rented out the mountain today for his birthday:



Apparently they renewed for the same date next year.

I'm thinking about Saturday too. My kids have been bugging me to try platty all year. I guess I talked it up too much.

Plattekill Always delivers! The triple side was a bit of a sketch, but the double side definitely has another week plus some. Get out there tomorrow, or next weekend! It's your last chance, and it's good.